All Elite Wrestling has been the connective tissue of the professional wrestling world. Upon its inception, AEW established relationships with Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Chinese promotion Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. In the years since AEW’s rookie year, AEW President Tony Khan has added the likes of the National Wrestling Alliance and Impact Wrestling to his crossover catalog. Earlier this year, the long-awaited partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling was cemented, culminating in a massive joint pay-per-view: AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Even with that show in the rear view, NJPW stars like Will Ospreay and Tomohiro Ishii have since appeared on AEW Dynamite.
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While a bulk of these crossovers have happened on AEW turf, many have believed that eventually AEW stars will travel to the Far East. Khan responded to the idea of AEW talent competing on NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in January, noting the day of the week is going to make it difficult.
“One challenge this year that we’ll have to keep an eye on is the Tokyo Dome (Wrestle Kingdom) is on a Wednesday. That hurts you on Friday because you can keep Wednesday strong but you lose four big stars and that can hurt you on Friday. I really want to rebuild Friday,” Khan said on the Wrestling Observer Radio ahead of AEW All Out.
Khan’s mention of Friday is an allusion to AEW Rampage, which is set to start airing live this fall. Rampage has struggled in viewership, dipping far below the seven figures is was putting up in its early days. Khan is preparing to boost ratings back to top form ย in order to ensure a strong TV renewal with Warner Brothers Discovery.
NJPW running its biggest show mid-week has Khan “not thrilled,” but he emphasized that he will still be supporting AEW’s partner.
“I’m not thrilled about it, but I’m gonna do my best to support them because they are our partner, but I also can’t send everyone over there. If it was the weekend, I’d send the house because that’s the kind of partners we are,” Khan said. “It’s a really great relationship because we already have gotten to talk about that, but we have to do Dynamite and a good chance that maybe Rampage will be taped that day.”
In recent years, AEW stars Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho have competed at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom while still being on AEW contracts. It remains to be seen who AEW will send to compete this year, but names like Bryan Danielson have expressed interest in working with New Japan. Recent developments on AEW programming have also indicated that Kenny Omega could have his long-awaited singles match with Will Ospreay in the Tokyo Dome come the new year.
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 airs on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023.
